


Couches, Curtains and Coffee Machines

by okemmelie



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Happy Ending, M/M, Soulmates, also someone dies but its not a canon character and uhhhh, emma only shows up if you don't blink sorry, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22760362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okemmelie/pseuds/okemmelie
Summary: Soulmates share dreams and when Ted's soulmate's been impatiently waiting for him to show up for a while.
Relationships: Bill/Ted (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals)
Comments: 46
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jollllly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jollllly/gifts).



> gifted to gwen because 1) we stan, and 2) actual queen of ted/bill. also if you haven't already, i big recommend going to read her stuff because oof! thanks for coming to my ted talk

“Come sit down with me, Theodore.” His mom gestures to the spot next to her on the couch and a barely six year old Ted nods before he starts climbing up on the couch. His mother’s voice is always sweet and soothing, but there’s something different about it. Something more serious. It frightens him and maybe she can see that on his face, because her expression turns much softer and she places a hand on his cheek. “You look worried.” He nods. He is worried. “Well, I assure you there’s no need to be.”

“Promise?” He looks up at her with big eyes and holds up his pinky. Serious usually means reason for worry. It usually means something bad has happened or that he’s done something wrong. He doesn’t like it when something bad happens and he doesn’t like doing anything wrong.

His mother nods. “Pinky promise.” She links their fingers and nods at him. He nods back, suddenly much more calm. “Within the next couple of years, something strange will happen while you’re dreaming. But you’re a brave boy and I know you won’t be frightened, especially not if you’re prepared. And these dreams… they’ll be the start of something wonderful. Now have you ever heard any of your friends from school talking about soulmates?”

One night when Ted goes to bed, he dreams of superheroes.

By the time his soulmate shows up in his dreams, Ted already knows a lot about what soulmates are. So when the superheroes are replaced with a black void, he suspects he knows what he’s in for. He’s only seven, but he’s curious and certainly, he’s curious enough to have done a little bit of research on his own. This research of his has mostly consisted of him asking his parents or his friends’ parents all of the questions he could think of, but it’s research nevertheless.

He knows he won’t get to see his actual soulmate. And he knows he won’t get to hear his soulmates name. Instead, he’ll see abstract representations of whatever his soulmate is thinking about. And he’ll hear a strange noise instead of a concrete name. Because why would the universe make it easy?

Instead of whoever his soulmate actually is, Ted sees a woman. Or maybe just a girl who’s older than him? It’s hard to tell. All of her body parts keep flickering in and out of existence, constantly exchanged with a new shape, a new color. The one thing that stays consistent is her hair. Her hair stays red.

“Woah.” The shape of his soulmate says. “It’s about time you show up. What took you so long? I was getting worried.”

“Sorry. I just turned seven. My mom says that’s when this is supposed to happen around then.” Ted never expected his first word to his soulmate to be  _ sorry _ , but then again he never really sat down and thought about what he wanted them to be. Maybe he should have.

“You’re seven…” Apparently the voice changes too, because it’s slightly more masculine sounding this time around. Strange. “That explains why you look like Spiderman.”

“I look like Spiderman? That’s so cool! How old are you? How long have you been waiting for me?” What can he say? He’s curious. And it’s his soulmate! If he can’t ask questions, how is he supposed to learn?

Now, Ted can’t make out much but it does look like his soulmate is smiling a bit. “I guess that is pretty cool, yeah. I’m thirteen. I’ve been waiting for seven years.”

“Can you please stop thinking about naked women?”

“Can  _ you  _ please stop thinking about naked women?” Ted asks back.

He thinks he’s smart, but his soulmate shakes their head. The hair’s still red. The body parts are still ever changing, they’re just not clothed anymore. “I’m thinking about my girlfriend. I’m sixteen. It’s different.”

Ted is eleven. His soulmate is, as far as his math is concerned, seventeen. Ted’s dream manifestation has, according to his soulmate, changed about a million times. His soulmate has always been some kind of redheaded woman.

Not today. Today, his soulmate is a list of baby pink girls’ names, endlessly scrolling. “Something’s changed.” He says his thoughts out loud, because who cares? It’s just him and his soulmate anyway. “What’s changed?”

It takes his soulmate a long time to answer. “I’m gonna be a parent. Before the year is over, I’ll have a daughter. What the fuck.”

Ted’s mom says he’s not supposed to say fuck, but if his soulmate can say it so can he, he decides right then and there. He spends the rest of the night bouncing name ideas with his soulmate. He doesn’t have anything helpful to say about the whole being a parent thing, so he figures that’s the last thing he can do.

They finally figure out how to fill up the space. Well, not exactly. But they do manage to make a couch appear in the vast black dream space. Sometimes, Ted misses having control of his own dreams. It’s a lot harder to do it with someone else. Especially this soulmate of his he’s never even met.

“You’re a cake today,” Ted notes when he falls asleep. He’s fourteen and his soulmate is twenty and it’s strange, because he can’t imagine ever being with someone that much older than him. He hopes they don’t meet until he’s much older. “Why are you a ca– okay, now you’re in a tuxedo. Now you’re in a white dress. Now you’re... a priest. What’s happening?”

His soulmate, the priest, sits down on their couch and sighs. “I’m considering proposing to my girlfriend. We’ve been together for a long time. We have a daughter together that we both love. Her parents are getting stressed about us not being married.  _ My  _ parents are g–”

“Do you love her?” Ted’s never been one to hold back questions and he’s not about to start not. “My parents always say you shouldn’t marry someone unless you’re in love with them.”

Now his soulmate’s head is no longer a head. It’s a wedding ring. Another wedding ring. Another wedding ring. Another w– “Of course I love her. But… love is complicated. You wouldn’t understand.”

Ted shrugs. “I don’t know. Try me? I’m very smart for my age.”

“I– I don’t think that’s how it works. But alright, if you’re sure.” Ted nods. He’s sure. He knows he’s supposed to be his soulmate’s best friend and support system in some way, shape or form. The least he can do is try. “I love her. I just… I’m not sure I’m  _ in  _ love with her, you know?” Ted nods again. It keeps his soulmate going. “It’s a big commitment, especially to something fleeting. I mean, she has a different soulmate too. They’ve been talking since she was eight. I’ve only known her since she turned ten.”

Something appears to Ted while he sits there and tries to come up with an answer: He doesn’t understand the situation. Not fully, anyway. To the best of his ability, he puts his hand on his soulmate’s shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“We need to talk,” his soulmate says as soon as they appear in the black dream space they share. “I’m getting married in a month. That’s it, that’s the talk. You need to stop thinking about sex. You’re too young for that stuff. And why are you suddenly thinking about naked men?”

“Congratulations. Also I’m fifteen. That’s not too young.”

“That’s too young!”

“You were thinking about sex when you were sixteen. It’s basically the same thing!”

His soulmate shakes their head. “It’s not. Also, you didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m going through some stuff, alright. Being a teenager is annoying and confusing. Sometimes you think about naked men, sometimes you think about naked women. It’s just what happens!” Ted rolls his eyes.

It makes his soulmate sigh. “I suppose you’re right. Wait… you’re a girl, right?”

If Ted had a drink, he’d spit it out in his soulmate’s face right then and there. “Oh. Oh no. No, I’m a boy.”

“Oh.”

Sometimes, his soulmate goes quiet for a long time. Which is fine, Ted can respect that. Well, normally he can. Apparently not tonight, though. “To be fair, I thought you were a bi girl until you started talking about getting your girlfriend pregnant. That’s kind of when it started to click for me. It was a bit confusing to me back then, but I’m gonna be real with you: It made it a lot easier to come to terms with the fact that I’m bi.”

His soulmate keeps not saying anything for a long while and this time, Ted lets him. When he’s finally ready, he leads with a deep sigh. “I’m sorry. I just– I don’t know, it’s just very new to me and… I need to process it, I guess.”

Ted nods. “Yeah, man. Just take your time.”

“You’re stressed,” his soulmate notes.

Ted nods. He doesn’t know what the fuck his current shape is, but apparently it’s enough for his book-for-face soulmate to see that he is, in fact, stressed. “My mom’s sick. Like, really sick. We barely have enough money to pay for the last bills; I don’t know how we’re going to pay for further treatment.”

His soulmate wraps an arm around him and Ted lets his head rest against the shape next to him. It’s kind of comforting in a weird way. “It’ll be alright.”

And while Ted isn’t sure he believes that, he accepts it anyway. Maybe it’s because they’ve never really sat like this before and the feeling is oddly calming. Or maybe it’s because he’s too tired and sad to say anything about it. He wants it to be the first, but he’s afraid it’s the second so he stops thinking too much about it.

“What do you do when you’re upset? You’re old, so you must have some wisdom.”

His soulmate’s arm is gone and instead, Ted feels him bump into his shoulder. “Stop calling me old. Just because you’re a baby doesn’t make me old.” Ted just rolls his eyes. “I usually drink tea. It makes me feel calm.”

“Tea fucking sucks,” Ted tells his soulmate the next day. He doesn’t want to talk about his mom or his feelings, so he doesn’t. “It tastes bad. It makes water taste bad. Why the fuck would you drink tea? Also, happy twenty second birthday.”

“You remembered?”

“Of courseI remembered. I’ve known you for like nine years now. It’s not that hard.”

His soulmate shrugs. “I don’t know. It took you this long to say happy birthday.”

“That’s because actually saying it is lame. Now, I can’t actually get you a gift even though I kind of want to, but will you do me a favor and get yourself something nice?”

His soulmate nods. “I think… I think I’m gonna get a divorce.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> office settings are inherently valid

Ted is seventeen. He has less than a year left of high school and he can’t wait for it to be over. His soulmate has less than a year left of college and he can’t wait for it to be over either. His ex-wife has apparently moved to another city and has taken their daughter with her. Ted’s thankful most of his struggles are about homework and which party to go to.

Ted is eighteen. He finishes high school and goes off to college. Then during his first year, his mom dies. His soulmate is the first to know. His soulmate gets a job at some printer company and Ted drops out of college to take care of himself and be with his dad through the tough times.

Ted is nineteen and back in college. His soulmate is working hard, but still struggling with his ex-wife. She’s met her soulmate now and he wishes they could just meet as well. Ted’s happy they haven’t, because boy does he not have his life together.

Ted is twenty one. He can almost taste the beginning of life after college, but only almost. His soulmate’s wife has officially won custody over their daughter, but at least his soulmate gets to see her one week a month. It’s something.

Ted is twenty two. He drinks too much coffee to keep up with college. Then he gets stressed and upset and he remembers his soulmate’s wise advice: Tea. He finds out he doesn’t like it warm, so he tries it cold. And honestly? Iced tea is a blessing. He tells this to his soulmate that night when he goes to sleep.

“Congratulations on graduating college,” Ted’s soulmate tells him while they’re setting up a curtain. They don’t know how it’s gotten there or how it’s even able to hang in the vast nothingness, but it’s a better backdrop than the nothing they’ve been used to and they’re hanging it up, because why not? A picture of the sky on a curtain is better than nothing.

Ted raises an eyebrow. At least he thinks he does. It’s strange not knowing what you look like without having your other half tell you it and sometimes, these weird dream versions of them don’t have eyebrows. “How did you know I graduated?”

His soulmate points just above where he thinks his face is. “You’re a diploma. Plus, it’s around that time and you’re a smart guy. What are you going to do next?”

“I don’t know.” His dad has asked him as well and he didn’t have an answer then, so why should he now? “Probably moving across the country. I’m sick of Portland.”

“You’re sick of what?”

“Portland,” Ted repeats.

His soulmate shakes his head. He’s been an ever changing girl with red hair for quite a while now and Ted suspects it’s because he’s been thinking about his daughter a lot, which is fair. “It’s not getting through, sorry. I don’t get why it has to be so difficult. It could be  _ so  _ easy, you know? My name is…” The sound that came out of his soulmate’s mouth was incomprehensible, but he kept going. “I live in a small town called…” Another incomprehensible sound. “And I work with printers, kind of, in a company called…” Yet another incomprehensible sound. “And I’d love to just be able to tell you that without it getting blocked off. I’d love for things to be easier.”

“I know.” Ted smiles a little. It’s nice to know he’s not the only one who wishes things could be different. “Do you think we’ll know when we finally meet?”

“Of course we will,” his soulmate says. The energy changes to oddly serious and Ted knows that that’s because how dreams convey emotions but he doesn’t find it any less strange after all these years. “My parents said they knew immediately. Everyone I’ve met said they knew immediately.”

“Well, my parents didn’t.” Ted figures now is as good a time as any to establish that, especially if his soulmate goes into this thinking he’ll just know and ends up disappointed. “It took them a solid two months to figure it out.”

“Why are you stressed? Relax,” his soulmate tells him. “You’ll be fine.”

Ted smiles. “I appreciate that you believe in me and I’m not  _ stressed _ . I’m just nervous. It’s a new job – my  _ first _ job – in a new town. I know no one here. How do you even know I’m nervous? Or stressed… whatever.”

“You’re a giant cup of iced tea. You always get like that when you’re st– nervous. Which, by the way, why? I’m not much of an asker, but I’ve been curious for a while and you never hold back on questions, so why should I?”

It’s a little embarrassing or at least Ted thinks it is, but he tells his soulmate how he started drinking iced tea whenever he got stressed or upset because of him. Because he suggested tea that one time. It makes his soulmate smile and it inspires Ted to make a smart decision in the morning, so he’s overall pretty happy with his choices.

He’s on an island in a small town in what feels like middle-of-nowhere America and he’s about to start his new job at a company called CCRP, but he grabs a chai iced tea on the way and it makes him feel a lot more calm than otherwise would have been. Probably, at least.

CCRP isn’t the workplace that’s going to make him the most money and it probably isn’t the smartest decision in the world for him to be here, but it’s got two things going for it: It’s far away from where he grew up and it’s a printer company. He’s been wanting to leave Oregon ever since his mother died and he’s been wanting to work at a printer company ever since he figured out that he at least wanted to meet his soulmate.

Now, he doesn’t believe that CCRP is going to be  _ it _ , but it’s one chance. And if it isn’t right, maybe they’ll meet at a conference for printers one day and it’ll somehow be enough.

Okay, maybe Ted hasn’t thought his decision all the way through, but whatever. He’s here and he’s as ready as he can be to get working in customer service, because that’s the job they had available.

A receptionist… or maybe a secretary? A someone smiles at him and shakes his hand when he introduces himself. She introduces herself as Melissa. Then she quickly gives him a tour of the office; she shows him the break room, the bathrooms, his boss’ office and his very own table where there are even more papers for him to read if he needs to.

“And if you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask. I’ll be by my desk, but you can always ask your coworkers. Paul is pretty new too, but he’s very talented.” She points around between his new coworkers while she introduces them. “Charlotte’s… not the best at explaining, but she’s been here a long time and she’s very nice. And Bill’s– well, Bill’s not here right now, but he’s a good one to ask too. I suggest you say hi before the end of the day and try to get to know them a little.”

Ted thanks her and sits down to read through the papers. Then he decides to stop by this Paul guy’s table, because maybe Paul’s his soulmate. Sure, the chances are very, very slim, but he looks kind of cute and Ted wouldn’t be opposed. “Hey. I’m Ted, the new guy.”

Paul introduces himself as, well, Paul. He shakes Ted’s hand and talks to him for a bit. He talks about the company, what it’s like to work there and warns him not to let Charlotte make him coffee. She has a tendency to get distracted and pour too much sugar in it, apparently.

Then he goes to say hi to this Charlotte. She’s very chatty, but very pretty and Ted decides to scope out his chances despite very clearly seeing the wedding ring on her finger. “So you found your soulmate already, huh? At this young an age, that must be nice.”

“Oh, stop it.” She blushes and Ted considers it a small success. “I– actually, I haven’t met my soulmate.” She continues to talk about how she believes in choices and commitment, not fate and destiny; she’s chosen her husband and he’s chosen her. That’s all that matters.

Ted wishes he could say he stayed focused on what she was saying, but it honestly didn’t sound like he had too much of a chance with her and someone else had walked into the office. By process of elimination, Ted figures this guy must be Bill and so he excuses himself from his conversation with Charlotte to go say hi.

“You’re… new,” are the first words out of presumably Bill’s mouth. He’s at the coffee machine by the time Ted catches up to him and he looks Ted up and down with a raised eyebrow.

It makes Ted laugh a little. “And you’re observative, I see. Name’s Ted.”

“So how’d it go?” His soulmate asks him that night. “You’re no longer a beverage, so I assume good?”

Ted nods. “Yeah. It wasn’t all that bad. Funny how things are always less horrible than you make them out to be.” He continues to talk about his day for a while and his soulmate listens, which is nice. “How was your day?”

“It was alright. A bit more interesting than most days, I’ll be honest. Had to run an errand for my boss. We got a new guy at the office. He seemed kind of like an asshole, but maybe it’s just because he’s young.”

“And young people are inherently assholes?” Ted raises an eyebrow at his soulmate.

In turn, he’s playfully pushed off the couch by his soulmate who has a smile on his lips. “You make me sound so old. I’m only twenty nine. Oh god. I’m already twenty nine.”

Then his soulmate has a bit of a crisis about his life and for once, it’s Ted who comforts him. For the first time in Ted’s life, he experiences what it’s like to take a nap in a dream and while strange, it’s honestly not too bad. When they wake up, their dream space has gotten a new addition: A coffee machine.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to say that paul is valid

Ted’s not one to waste time and by the time Wednesday – his third day at CCRP – comes around, he’s manages to get his shit together. Kind of, at least. Okay, maybe not really, but he does ask Paul out for lunch because he’s cute and works at a printer company and that’s a step in the right direction.

They go to a shitty coffee shop and Paul drools over the barista, which is an unfortunate sign but then again, Ted has no idea who his soulmate is and it’s probably not Paul but he’s here anyway so can he really blame him?

Yes. Yes, he can. The barista’s not even the hottest of the employees here and Paul has some serious issues when it comes to choosing who to drool over, which he does tell him as soon as they sit down at a table together.

“I’m not drooling over her! I’m just… respectfully ignoring her look because she’s stylish.” Paul speaks in a hushed voice and looks over his shoulder to see what’s up with the not all that good looking barista.

It makes Ted physically incapable of rolling his eyes. He needs to figure out if Paul is his soulmate as fast as he possibly can, but God he hopes it isn’t Paul. No offense to him or anything, he’d just prefer literally anyone else. He figures asking if he’s divorced and has a child is a bit too much for a lunch date after knowing each other for two and a half days, so he goes for a slightly different approach. “Is she your soulmate or something?”

It makes Paul freeze up and blink a few times, which he follows up with a shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about my soulmate.”

“What? Really?” Okay, so Paul’s definitely not his soulmate and thank God for that. Dating’s never really been his strength and he’s felt the usual need to ditch, so it’s nice to know Paul’s not the one. But this whole not knowing anything about his soulmate thing does catch his interest and curiosity. And Ted’s never been one not to ask his questions. “How come?

Paul nods a few times. “Yeah. Yeah, I don’t know. Whoever they are, they started showing up when I was six, but they never spoke to me. I don’t know why, but they refused to. And I never asked… just sort of let them do their own thing, you know?”

It makes Ted shake his head. He doesn’t know, because he’s too much of an asshole to just let people involved with him ‘do their own thing’. And when Paul doesn’t keep talking, Ted gestures for him to do so.

Luckily, he listens. “My dreams have taken place in jungles and in strange marketplaces and on rivers and– let’s just stick to many places. But it’s all been very lonely, because whoever my soulmate is, they keep walking away from me and getting lost in our shared dream world on their own. And it’s alright, I guess. They can do what they need to do. It’s not like we’ve ever had a relationship, you know?”

“I guess?” Ted shrugs. He’s happy whoever Paul’s soulmate is has Paul as their soulmate and not him, because boy would they have been annoyed at this point. “I don’t know. My soulmate started talking to me the day I first showed up. We still talk basically every night. And our dream space is… well, it’s pretty much nothing.”

“Oh.” Paul nods. He looks slightly bitter, but Paul also seems like someone who’s about ready to settle down so it makes sense. “Have you two met yet?”

“Maybe. I don’t know, man. I hope I’ll get to meet him, though. He seems nice.” And while it’s true that his soulmate does seem nice, it’s not going to stop Ted from hitting on his other coworkers until then. Maybe even Paul again, who knows.

The Friday of his first week at CCRP, Ted and his coworkers decide to go grab a drink after work. Ted has no idea if it’s because there’s a new guy – him – or if that’s simply how they do it here and he doesn’t plan on asking, because he figures he’ll find out eventually and until he does, he can at least enjoy the thought of weekly drinks.

Paul goes home after one drink and Charlotte’s husband comes to pick her up not long after. Then Melissa gets a call from a friend and excuses herself as well, and suddenly the prospects of weekly drinks are not looking that good.

But whatever! He’ll enjoy it as long as it exists and he calls the bartender over to order both him and Bill another drink. Luckily, Bill isn’t as weak as the others and he accepts. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Ted smiles at him and leans back in his seat after taking a sip of his new drink. It’s not where he expected tonight to go, but since it’s just the two of them he figures there’s no harm in getting to know Bill a little. “So… how long have you been at CCRP?”

“This is my fifth year,” Bill nods a few times before taking a sip of his drink. “Started working here when I was twenty four and fresh out of college. How old are you again?”

“Twenty three.”

“Oh wow, that’s young.”

Ted shrugs. He supposes Bill is right, but what else was he supposed to do? Not work? “I guess. I mean, I finished college just last month.”

“Congratulations. Both on finishing college and finding a job so quickly. HCC or UOC?”

“What?”

“Hatchetfield Community College or University of Clyvesdale? Though now I have a sneaking suspicion the answer is neither.” Bill scratches the back of his head and Ted can’t decide if his smile is awkward or adorable, so he settles on both.

He nods along as Bill speaks, because he’s right and the answer really is neither. “I’m from Portland. I’ve lived here for a week and a half. I have no idea what anything around here is, I’ll be real with you.”

Bill looks at him for a while without saying anything. It looks like he’s thinking and Ted lets him, partly because it’s the nice thing to do but mostly because it means he doesn’t have to engage in smalltalk for a while. It’s nice to catch a break from time to time. “Okay, wow. Welcome to town. Why, uh… why here? Why Hatchetfield?”

Ted shrugs. “Got sick of Portland. Felt like I needed to get away. Then I saw this job position open and… well, decided to take the chance.”

Bill doesn’t ask him  _ why  _ he applied for a job at CCRP and he’s thankful, because telling his new coworker that he’s trying to cheat destiny into letting something good happen for him seems lame and not at all like something he wants to do.

The following week, there’s no mention of Friday drinks and Ted accepts his destiny; drinking alone. He goes to the same bar they were all the prior week and orders scotch. Then he finds a corner to go sit reflect about his life choices alone.

It’s not the most interesting thing in the world, in fact Ted thinks it’s one of the more boring experiences he’s ever had. But then he spots a familiar figure entering the bar. The sight of Bill brings a smile to his face and he gets up to greet his coworker.

“Bill! Good to see you. What are you doing here?” He asks.

Bill nods towards the bar and Ted follows him as he answers. “Didn’t have anything better to spend my Friday night on.” God, Ted knows that feeling. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I assume it’s the same for you?”

Ted confirms that it is, in fact, the same for him. Then Bill orders a drink and they get settled by a table together. They have a few drinks and some good talks and then they go home. He doesn’t know about Bill, but Ted feels pretty damn good after.

Then the next week, Ted shows up again and as does Bill. It becomes a weekly tradition, except for the first Friday every month where Bill seemingly always has other plans. And while Ted is curious, he manages to not ask: Bill will tell him when he’s ready. Or at least he hopes so.

There’s no way Ted’s flying all the way across the country to have dinner with his dad and talk about his mom, only to go back to work literally the day after. So instead Ted scopes out his chances around the office and turns out, Bill and Paul are both planless on Thanksgiving as well, so they decide to do Thanksgiving together at Bill’s place.

Ted’s never been to Bill’s place, so he leaves home a little early in case he gets lost. He doesn’t get lost and he ends up knocking on Bill’s door half an hour before he’s supposed to be there.

Bill opens. “Ted? What are you doing here already?”

“Thought I’d get lost, but didn’t. Can I come in?”

“Sure.” Bill nods a few times before he finally steps aside, letting Ted enter.

He quickly takes his shoes and jackets off and then Bill starts showing him around his apartment while they smalltalk. One thing he can’t help but to notice is the many photos of a young girl with red hair that hangs on the walls or stands on tables or in window stills.

His curiosity gets the best of him. “Who’s that?”

At least Bill doesn’t seem too stressed by the question. In fact, he doesn’t seem stressed at all: He just smiles. “That’s my daughter, Alice. She’s twelve years old and, uh… she lives with my ex wife in Clyvesdale.”

“Why aren’t you spending Thanksgiving with her?” Ted logically knows that he shouldn’t be asking, but he’s hoping Bill will just stop answering once he doesn’t want to anymore.

“I had her last year. That makes it Jenny’s turn.” Unlike the look on his face when he talks about his daughter, mentioning his ex wife seems to be a much more bitter ordeal. “I’m sorry. It’s just… My daughter means the world to me. I wish I had her around more.”

Something about the fact that Bill works at a printer company, is twenty nine years old and has a twelve year old daughter with red hair who means the world to him  _ and _ an ex wife feels a little too familiar to Ted and he wants to ask questions, wants to figure out if his suspicions are  _ right _ right away, but the doorbell rings before he has the chance to and Ted isn’t about to ask Bill if he’s his soulmate while Paul is there.

Then when he goes to sleep that night he considers asking as well, but his soulmate doesn’t bring it up and so Ted leaves the thought there for now.


	4. Chapter 4

The first Friday of December, Bill doesn’t show up at the bar.

Ted does. He often does, because with or without Bill, a drink is a good time. He figures it’s going to be a lonesome night, that maybe he’ll find a lonely soul and take them home and that that’ll be fine because even though Bill’s most likely his soulmate, he doesn’t know for sure.

And even if Bill does happen to be his soulmate, he hasn’t done anything to communicate to Ted that that might be the case. So why should Ted care about whether it’s Bill or not? He should definitely be allowed to hook up outside of their possible soulmateship. Bill’s been married. Well. His soulmate’s been married. It might not be Bill. And no matter what, it’s fine for him to hook up even if he possibly knows who his soulmate is.

At least he’s trying to rationalize that to himself. He’s not really sure if his logic adds up, but he’s had three drinks and now he doesn’t care anymore. He heads for the nearest person sitting alone and–

Before he’s able to connect, the door opens and someone familiar steps in. It’s not Bill, but rather Charlotte. She seems to spot him as well and they smile at each other. Then Ted changes course for her rather than the stranger.

“Charlotte, hey. What are you doing here?” He asks. He hasn’t decided what his strategy is going to be yet: Does he continue to hit on her like he’s done before despite having been turned down like a trillion times or does he try to get her to leave so he can pick up a stranger, guilt free?

“I, uhhh… Sam is leaving me. He… he, uhh… He met his soulmate.” The previously smiling Charlotte suddenly looks like she’s about to burst into tears and Ted very quickly rules out his chances of making their encounter a quick one.

The sex is still a possibilty though and he ends up inviting her back to his apartment, where he pours them each a glass of wine.

She talks a lot and he almost listens, because he likes the idea of being a sympathetic person. Then she starts talking about  _ him. Ted. _ And about how he’s always been so nice to her.

Suddenly, the distance between them is no more and Charlotte pulls him in for a kiss. Maybe two weeks ago, he’d have let that slide. Okay, lies. Two weeks ago he’d definitely have let it slide. He’d have fucked her on his couch.

But now? Now he’s pretty sure Bill’s his soulmate and he’s pretty sure he doesn’t want to mess that up before he knows for sure. So he pulls back and shows her to the door. “I hope you find happiness one day, I do. But I’m sorry. I can’t do this, Charlotte.”

Ted has an important deadline coming up at work today, so he decides to stop by a coffee shop and order iced tea before work. He hasn’t really felt he’s needed it since his first day at the job, but now he feels he does.

When he gets to the office, he places the iced tea on his table and gets to work. He considers setting a  _ Do Not Disturb  _ sign up at his desk, but it feels like it’d be a bit much so he decides against it.

It doesn’t take him long to realize that maybe the sign would have been a good idea, because someone stops in front of his table. And when he looks up to check who it is, it’s Bill. Bill’s gaze is fixed to something on his table. His iced tea, perhaps? And Ted wants to take it as a sign, he does, but he also thinks the idea of signs are kind of stupid.

It takes Bill some time to figure out what he’s going to do and Ted just gives him all the time he needs. When he finally comes back to it, he looks up at Ted and bliks a few times. “I’m sorry, this is going to sound weird, please excuse me, but… Is your mom dead?”

Alright. So that’s a definite sign and Ted’s a good ninety nine percent sure Bill is in fact his soulmate at this point. He has a feeling that they maybe  _ should  _ talk about it, but he also knows that he can’t miss this deadline and that a soulmate talk is going to take up too much time today. “Yep. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m pretty busy and–”

“Yeah, but–”

“Sorry, Bill. Got a deadline. Talk to you tonight.”

Bill looks like he wants to say more, because his mouth is open before Ted is even able to finish his sentence. The  _ Talk to you tonight  _ seems to shut him up, though.

“You’re my soulmate,” his soulmate says as soon as he falls asleep.

Ted nods. “Yep.”

“No, I mean…  _ you’re  _ my soulmate.  _ You _ . Ted. Oh god, yeah. Now you even look like you.”

“Wait, what? Is saying Bill all I had to do to– yeah, okay. I see.” As soon as Bill’s name leaves his lips, his soulmate’s image changes into Bill himself and Ted just starts nodding to himself as he takes it in. “Um, can you hang on for a second?”

“No, what’s–”

Ted doesn’t hear the rest of Bill’s sentence, because he wakes up instead. Then he gets dressed and starts driving to his soulmate’s apartment, his coworker’s apartment… Bill’s apartment. Is it a stupid idea? Absolutely. And should he have done this earlier? Abso-fucking-lutely.

At least it seems Bill’s awake when he gets there, because he’s buzzed into the apartment complex almost immediately and the door’s already open when he gets up there. Bill’s waiting for him in the entrance, half dressed and looking tired. He gets it and really shouldn’t ask questions or comment on it. “You look tired.”

“You’re an idiot.” Ted nods in response, because Bill is not wrong. “Come in?”

Ted walks in and they make their way to the couch in silence. Bill’s made them tea and there’s two glasses standing ready for them on the coffee table; he’s put ice cubes in one of the glasses, which Ted appreciates a lot.

“I’m sorry I called you an asshole. In my defense, I didn’t know it was you. And I didn’t even know you,” Bill starts.

It makes him smile. “That’s not a very good defense, you know that right? You also called me an idiot a few minutes ago, remember?” Ted really didn’t mind being called an idiot. He also didn’t mind being called an asshole, but apparently he was going to tease Bill about it so maybe he was right about both of his comments.

“I stand by that.”

Ted nods. “Good. You should.”

“It’s… strange? This whole thing is strange. It feels like I know everything about you, but at the same time it feels like I don’t know you at all. You know what I mean?”

Ted nods again. He knows exactly what he means. After all, they’ve spent the past sixteen years speaking to each other every single night without really knowing who they were and now they’re right next to each other on Bill’s real life couch and he feels like he knows everything about Bill, but he also feels like he knows nothing at all.

Bill has a lot to say about the strangeness of it all and Ted listens until he’s out of iced tea. He tries to listen after that, but he can feel himself falling asleep and before he knows it, he’s back on their couch in the middle of the black nothingness of their dream space.

It doesn’t take Bill too long to join him. “You’re heavy.”

“Rude,” Ted says back. He doesn’t have a witty comment right now and he doesn’t feel like it’s the time. “What happened?”

“You fell asleep,” Bill tells him. “You fell asleep on me and I carried you to bed.”

“Taking me to your bed already? My, my.”

For once, he can actually see dream-Bill rolling his eyes at him. It’s what he deserves after everything he’s said in their shared dream space. “Not like that. I’m asleep on the couch right now.”

“You know you could have left me on the couch and taken your bed and that would have been fine, right? You know you could even have slept with me in the bed and I would have probably survived?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t want it to be weird.”

And while it’s sweet, Ted also finds it a little dumb. “You’re cute.”

Bill smiles and maybe it’s the euphoria of finding out for real that Bill is his soulmate, but Ted finds it incredibly endearing. “You’re cute too.”

Suddenly, Ted gets an idea. It’s not necessarily a good one, but it’s not bad either. And instead of waiting around for longer than necessary, he throws some finger guns in Bill’s direction and then he asks him. “Hey. So… what are you doing tomorrow after work? There is a correct answer.”

Bill opens his mouth but nothing comes out. Then he moves his head around and looks somewhere between confused and in deep thought. He ends up just shrugging. “I don’t know.”

“That’s right, you’re going on a date with me.”

He smiles again. That’s a good sign. “You know, we could just go on a date here. Optimize our time and stuff.”

“Yeah, but that’s boring. Look at how fucking boring this is.” Ted gestures around to their vast blackness. “Did you know that Paul and his soulmate once had an entire jungle in their dream space? If all we get is a coffee machine and a shitty couch, I’d much rather do a real life date.”

“You’re forgetting about our curtain. We also have a curtain.”

Ted rolls his eyes and pushes Bill off the couch, which only makes him laugh. That, in turn, makes Ted laugh as well. Rather than staying in their shitty couch, Ted joins Bill on the ground and they stay there for the rest of the night.

Bill wakes him up in the morning with pancakes. They have chocolate chips in them and it’s entirely unnecessary for Bill to even have done this for him, but also incredibly cute and Ted feels strangely happy and comfortable.

They eat pancakes in bed and then Bill lets Ted borrow a clean set of clothes before they go off to the office. Paul sees them arrive in the same car and he asks them about what’s up with that, to which Ted tells him to shut up and worry about his own life. Not that it matters what Ted tells him, because Bill tells him the truth.

“Oh,” Paul says. He blinks a few times and nods even more times. “Okay… okay. Okay, cool. So you two… alright. Yeah. Cool.”

Ted’s never even been in a relationship. He’s had sex, sure, but he’s never dabbled in love, not really. It’s always seemed crazy and overwhelming – and honestly? It’s kind of felt pointless.

But then Bill grabs his hand in the parking lot and starts walking towards the office building they first met in and it feels like the most natural thing in the world to let their fingers intertwine. It doesn’t feel strange in the slightest when Bill kisses his cheek before going to his own table to work for the day. It just feels… natural. And right.

And at first Ted thinks it might be because Bill’s just like that. He’s spent most of his young adult life in a relationship, at least, and it wouldn’t surprise Ted if this sort of thing was just second nature to him.

But then they get off work and they go on a date and he remembers what his mom always said: That these dreams would be the start of something wonderful. He’s pretty sure she was onto something.

Then Bill pulls him in for a kiss and he’s entirely convinced she’s right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just uhhh think they're valid. that's it.  
> actually that's not it. my tumblr is @helenmcwife and if u ever wanna talk about these two….. hmu. also gwen's tumblr is @billtedrights and she is RIGHT, they have rights. go follow her too, she's the best AND the most valid


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